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Welsh language scheme

When conducting public business in Wales, English and Welsh languages are treated equally.

Welsh language scheme

Our commitment to ensuring that the Welsh and English languages are treated on a basis of equality in the services we provide to the public in Wales.

In accordance with the Welsh Language Act 1993, we established a scheme to publish information in Welsh wherever ‘appropriate in the circumstances and reasonably practicable’.

The department’s Welsh language scheme was endorsed by the Welsh Language Board on 28 May 2009 and replaces the previous scheme which had been approved on 30 August 2000.

The scheme sets out the department’s commitments that ‘in the conduct of public business in Wales, it will treat the English and Welsh languages on a basis of equality’, such as using Welsh in publicity and advertising campaigns. In addition, people attending public meetings arranged by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) in Wales will be able to contribute in Welsh if they wish, and correspondence in Welsh will automatically receive a Welsh reply.

The Welsh Language Board was abolished on 31 March 2012, and many of its powers under the Welsh Language Act were transferred to the Welsh Language Commissioner.